Top Baristas Descend on Sydney for Global Latte Art Grand Final
Concluding months of challenging global heats, the long-awaited Almond Breeze Breezey Masters Grand Final will take place on Tuesday, 13th November from 6pm-8pm at The Grounds of Alexandria in Sydney. This year, there are four countries battling it out to be crowned latte art champion at the 2018 Breezey Masters.
In the lead up, Breezey Masters competitions were held in six states across Australia, as well as in New Zealand, South Africa, Japan and the UK with each contestant fighting for a place in this year’s Grand Final. There will be a total of 12 top-tier latte artists flying in to Sydney next week to take part in the competition, all with their eyes on the prize.
Mike McNulty, Country Director for Almond Breeze Australia & New Zealand said: “We’ve seen some incredible talent this year, both in Australian cities and globally, and we are so excited to be once again advocating for a group of exceptional baristas, who are helping us push the industry forward. We are fiercely supportive of our coffee community and the Breezey Masters latte art competition is the perfect opportunity for Aussie and international baristas to showcase their talent using a tried and tested product.”
Almond Breeze Barista Blend was Australia’s first almond milk to be developed in partnership with baristas, for baristas. Recently, it’s even had a packaging makeover with the new look chosen by the coffee community. As the home of great coffee and even better baristas, it only made sense to host one of the biggest latte art competitions in the world here in Australia,” he said.
Leading up to the Grand Final, more than one hundred competitors demonstrated their skills, attracting a strong mix of latte art veterans and newbies. The competition format is simple but challenging, with the task to present six cups in ten minutes using set latte art patterns and free pours. Each cup throughout the competition will then be carefully evaluated by judges based on complexity and clarity.
The lucky 2018 Grand Breezey Master will then choose to either travel to the UK to experience the London Coffee Festival or to North America for the Specialty Coffee Expo in 2019. The winner will also be honoured in Almond Breeze’s Barista Benchmark series that features exceptional baristas on the side of the Almond Breeze Barista Blend pack which is distributed to cafes across Australia.
In addition to holding the Breezey Masters annual latte art competition, Almond Breeze Barista Blend has taken their commitment to Australia’s coffee scene one step further through its recently launched BaristasforBaristas.com. The site was created to ensure baristas and those in the coffee industry are listened to and supported in reaching their goals so that the Australian coffee scene can continue to thrive. It arms baristas with the essential information they need to find jobs, get training, shout about cafes who are killing it, link baristas up with like-minded professionals and much more.
List of Grand Finalists:
- Queensland - Sarah Jin of Extraction Artisan
- Western Australia - Vicky Chuaybamrung of Darkstar Coffee
- South Australia - Alex Whigham of My Kingdom for a Horse
- New South Wales - Vincent Do of The Grounds of Alexandria
- Australian Capital Territory - Matt Sharp of Highroad / ONA Coffee
- Victoria - Chon Iat Lao of Ael
- Wellington, NZ - Logan Collinge of Mojo Coffee NZ
- Auckland, NZ - Leo Li of Atomic Coffee Roasters
- New Zealand - Chamnan Ly of Tasteful Bakehouse
- South Africa - Idricia Nakahosa of Truth Coffee Company
- Japan - Takehiro Okudaira of Caferista
- UK - Ben Lewis of Coffee Lab
8th November 2018
